Exposing the Nexus India’s Covert War Against Pakistan Using Afghan Soil

In the intricate geopolitical chessboard of South Asia, Pakistan has long been the target of a sustained hybrid war led by its eastern neighbor, India. Among the most troubling aspects of this campaign is India’s covert use of Afghan territory to launch cross-border terrorism against Pakistan. Backed by mounting evidence and confessions, Pakistan’s claims are no longer mere allegations but hard realities that underscore the malicious intent of Indian agencies, particularly the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), to destabilize the region and undermine Pakistan’s internal security. The objective is clear—to sow chaos, create divisions, and weaken Pakistan’s resilience, especially targeting its armed forces and strategic institutions.

Pakistan’s security agencies, including the ISI and military intelligence, have repeatedly exposed India’s involvement in sponsoring terror activities from Afghan soil. This interference has been most clearly evidenced in the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a serving Indian Navy officer and RAW agent captured by Pakistani forces in Balochistan in 2016. Jadhav confessed to orchestrating sabotage operations and financing Baloch insurgents under Indian directives. His detailed testimony revealed how India had established a terror network extending through Afghanistan, designed specifically to harm Pakistan’s stability and progress.

Furthermore, credible evidence links India with the financing and training of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an outlawed militant outfit responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan’s recent history. Among the most horrific was the 2014 Army Public School massacre in Peshawar, where over 140 people, mostly children, were brutally murdered. Investigations into the tragedy traced funding lines and communication links to handlers with known connections to Indian and Afghan intelligence services. Pakistan’s security establishment has consistently stated that RAW, in collaboration with Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS), has harbored and armed TTP operatives who flee to Afghanistan after launching attacks inside Pakistan.

More recently, in 2023 and 2024, intensified operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have uncovered advanced weaponry, communication devices, and financial trails directly connected to Indian sources. These findings support Pakistan’s long-standing assertion that India exploits the instability in post-US Afghanistan to plant mercenaries and proxies to carry out cross-border terrorism. The arrest and interrogation of TTP commanders have further confirmed this nexus. Several captured militants confessed to being trained in camps located in eastern Afghanistan, operated with the assistance of RAW operatives under the guise of NGOs and humanitarian fronts.

Despite these damning revelations, the international community has often turned a blind eye, swayed by Indian economic influence and diplomatic lobbying. However, global institutions such as the UN and think tanks like the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) have begun to acknowledge the growing threats posed by state-sponsored terrorism. The Global Terrorism Index 2024 ranked Pakistan among the most targeted nations due to externally funded militant outfits, highlighting the urgent need for regional cooperation to root out such networks. While the report refrained from naming individual countries, Pakistan’s officials were quick to present supplementary intelligence pointing squarely at India’s subversive activities through Afghanistan.

India’s nefarious activities are not limited to the tribal regions. Its sponsored agents have sought to exploit ethnic and sectarian fault lines across the country. In Karachi, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan, targeted assassinations, bombings, and disinformation campaigns have all been traced to Indian cyber and ground assets. Yet, through it all, the Pakistan Armed Forces and intelligence community have stood as the first and final line of defense. Counterterrorism operations like Radd-ul-Fasaad and Zarb-e-Azb are testaments to the resilience and commitment of Pakistan’s security forces in purging foreign-backed militancy from its soil.

The unwavering resolve of the Pakistan Army, under the leadership of its high command, has been pivotal in protecting the nation from these multifaceted threats. Despite facing a multi-pronged assault involving physical attacks, cyber warfare, and propaganda campaigns, the military continues to maintain internal security and national unity. Public support for the armed forces has surged, as citizens recognize the gravity of the threats emanating from across the eastern border and the sacrifices being made to counter them.

To safeguard its sovereignty, Pakistan must continue to expose India’s double game on international forums. It is imperative that the world acknowledges the cost Pakistan has paid in its war on terror over 80,000 lives lost, a struggling economy burdened by security expenditures, and countless families torn apart by grief. Pakistan’s role as a frontline state in the global fight against terrorism should be commended, not questioned. Unlike India, which uses terror as an instrument of statecraft, Pakistan has bled to defeat it.